Isaac cook



l l V UNITED sTaTns PATENT oFFrcE.

ISAAC COOK, OF MOUNT PLEASANT, IO\VA, ASSIGNOR TO I-IIMSELF AND HUGH MCCLURE, OF SAME PLACE.

WASHBOARD.

Specification of Letters Patent No. 28,629, dated June 5, 1860.

To all whom if may concern:y

Be it known that I, ISAAC Coon, of lNIount Pleasant, in the county of Henry and State of Iowa, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Vashboards; and I do hereby declare that the following is a full, clear, and exact description thereof, reference being hadvto 'the accompanying drawings, forming a part of this specification, in which- A Figure l represents a front view of my improved washboard, showing the rubberv and swinging frame with the pump barrels arranged on the side of the frame. Fig. 2 is a vertical transverse section taken through the washboard, rubber, and swinging frame, showing the rubber in an elevated position in red lines.

Similar letters of reference indicate corresponding parts in both figures.

The nature of my invention consists, rstly, in combining in a novel manner with an ordinary hand washboard a swinging frame, capable of receiving a reciprocating motion over the surface of the board; and in suitably hinging within this frame a rubbing board, furnished with rollers or rubbing slats, which receives the articles to be washed between it and the corrugated surface of the washboard holds them inY place and while in this conned state the frame with the rubbers may be rapidly moved up and down with the hands, giving to the clothes a thorough rubbbing controlled entirely by the hand; and in conjunction with this arrangement my invention consists in giving to the rubber and frame, in their attachment to the washboard, an elastic, yielding action so that the same will themselves be adjusted to the bulk or varying bulks of articles placed between the rubbers and the board, as will be hereinafter described and represented.

My invention consists, secondly, in applying to the side, back, or other convenient place about a wash board having a reciproeatingl rubber, a pump arrangement, which shall be constructed as will be hereinafter described, operated by the motions of the said rubber so as to force water from the tub below, up alongside of the board and over on the articles undergoing the washing operation; the object of which arrangement is to keep the articles well soaked with water while they are being rubbed.

To enable those skilled in the art to fully understand my invention I will proceed to describe its construction and operation.

The wash board A, with its two side bars and legs B, B, and its soap receptacle C, is in common with boards of the present construction; the rubbing surfaces may be corrugated or have any other suitable surface, and the board may be made of metal and wood, either one or both or it may be made of any suitable material. In each front edge of the side bars is cut out a strip having a recess of a suitable length, which recesses are covered with strips D, D, forming two slots one in each side bar, into which plays the trunnions of a roller E, a roller passing transversely across the front part of the board A, that does notcome in contact with the surface of the board 'in its movements. This roller carries on its eXtreme ends guide pieces a, a. The strips D, D, are made of some tough and elastic wood (or metal) and are secured to the edges of the side bars only at one point, viz: at their bottom by screws, as represented in the drawings, and having their opposite ends tenoned into the head board of the soap box C, so as to prevent them from moving laterally they serve to allow the roller E, to accommodate itself to the varying thicknesses of articles placed on the washboard. These strips should be made so as to suitably combine elasticity with stiffness and strength.

F, F represent two swinging bars that are suitably hinged to the roller E, fitting closely to the inside of said bars B, and in length less than the board A; these bars F, F, are connected together with a cross strip G, and it has also two rubbing rollers b, Z), one just over strip Gr, and the other midway between this roller and the roller or bar E, both of which rotate freely in their bearings in each side bar F, F. This constitutes the frame for receiving and carrying the rubbing board which board is also hung on the roller E, in a suitable manner to be raised to the position represented in Fig. 2, by red lines, with or without its frame. This rubbing board is composed of two side bars J, J, which extend down from roller E, nearly as far as the lower rubbing roller `7), in frame F, F, and are connected together by boards L, L, and a suitable number of octagonal rubbing rollers c, c, between which are placed fixed rubbing slats e, e. The side pieces J, J, are scored out sufficiently to admit the rubbing board to come to its place as represented by Fig. 2.

I-I is a transverse handle, arranged so that both hands can grasp it firmly. It is secured to the bars J, J, and its ends project over the bars F, F. The rubbing board with the frame and its rubbers serve to keep the articles closely confined to the two boards, and between the two boards and the corrugated washboard surface, at the same time the articles will have a slight movement independently of the movement imparted to them by the reciprocating motion given to the rubbers, and this will give to the articles a rubbing, cleansing action on both sides at one time.

It is found necessary in this machine to provide some means of supply for water to the articles while they are being rubbed between the boards, and in order to do this with the least trouble and labor I arrange on the outside of one side bar B, a pumping arrangement consisting of plungers, barrel and valves.

M is a square or round plunger, which is connected to the end of roller E, in any suitable manner so as to work the entire length of a pump barrel N, the lower end vof which reaches down into the water of the tub in which the machine is placed with any suitable valve, the water will be drawn up so as to lill the barrel N, with the upward movement of the rubbers, and as they are forced down again the water in the barrel should be forced up through a pipe P, and out through a hole, shown in dotted lines Fig. 1, over and upon the articles in the machine, so that with this or some other arrangement essentially like it the water will be supplied constantly to the articles between the rubbers, as long as the rubbers are moved up and down, in the act of performing the washing, the water too is supplied to the articles in a very desirable way, so that the entire mass will be kept sufficiently saturated to carry off the dirt as it is rubbed out.

I-Iaving thus given a general description of the arrangement and construction of my wash board it will be understood that I have obtained a very simple and cheap machine, which, on account of its portability and the manner of operating it, it can be applied to an ordinary wash-tub and used like any ordinary washboard, it saves the hands from the disagreeable results of washing with boards in the usual manner, while the rubbing action on the articles is very similar to hand labor but much better, on account of the two movements the articles have, th'ereby washing or rubbing both sides of them at one operation. The articles can be readily placed in the machine either in whole or in part, and removed with the same facility.

Having thus described my invention what I claim as new, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is

1. The combination with an ordinary washboard of the reciprocating and hinged rubbers and frames working in suitable grooves, and made yielding to the varying thicknesses of articles placed between the rubbers and board, as and for the purposes herein set forth.

2. The arrangement, in combination with the above reciprocating rubbers and frame, of a suitable pump, arranged so as to supply water to the top of the board over the articles between the rubbers, as set forth.

ISAAC COOK.

Witnesses:

W. D. LEEDHAM, J. W. PARKER. 

